Meanings
plural niddicks
- West CountrydialectalThe nape of the neck.
Chad a Crick in ma Back and in ma Niddick.
1746, Exmoor Courtship, published 1879, page 1024 more examples
an way that a geed en sich a wap in the niddick that strambang a het es head agin the clovel, an made a bump in es brow.
1837, Mary Reynolds Palmer, A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect, page 19[…]an' Tim just took un by the niddick, same as you might a kitten, an' hove the blasphemous twoad into the mud along wi' the ducks an' watercress.
1903, Eden Phillpotts, The Striking Hours, page 118"Take my tarpaulin coat for the journey. A thought small, but it will keep your niddick dry."
1928, Eden Phillpotts, Children of Men, page 389Historically, other words have been used to refer to this place on the body: hattrel, niddick, noddle, noll, nuke, and poll; all have passed out of use.
[2015, Charles Hodgson, Carnal Knowledge: A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia, →ISBN, page 115
Origin
Uncertain. The English Dialect Dictionary mentions several other spellings found in other dialects (nedack, neddick, nudack, nuddick, nudeck) and compares it to nod (“nape of the neck”), found in e.g. John Coker Egerton's Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways (1884). Compare the ending to -ock.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
niddick. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niddick
“niddick.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niddick. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “niddick,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niddick.
Source: niddick on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.